FREEZE FRAMES

ByDavid SterrittJuly 23, 1991

POINT BREAK - Bank robbing, parachute jumping, and the "spiritual side" of surfing are the main concerns of this ambitious but hopelessly vulgar adventure-suspense epic. Directed with occasional flashes of ingenuity by Kathryn Bigelow, who so far has not lived up to the promise of the offbeat "Near Dark," which launched her career a few years ago. (Rated R)SWITCH - A male chauvinist is reincarnated in a woman's body and given one last chance to learn sympathy with womankind. Ellen Barkin gives an all-out performance, and Blake Edwards has directed the picture with his usual assurance. The shallowness of the story is badly out of sync with the elegance of his visual style, though; one longs for the days when his cinematic touch reached impressive heights in projects that lived up to his directorial talent, from "Breakfast at Tiffany to the best of the "Pink Pa nther" pictures. (Rated R) WHAT ABOUT BOB? Bill Murray's manic performance is the main selling point of this mildly amusing farce about a psychiatrist with a patient who literally drives him crazy. It's also fun to see Richard Dreyfuss on the receiving end of the mayhem, and Charlie Korsmo is wonderfully original as the doctor's son. Frank Oz directed the occasionally inspired silliness. (Rated PG)